


Confide Everything

by bold_seer



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Rituals, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/pseuds/bold_seer
Summary: There were lines that didn’t matter, not in the great scale of things. There were lines not to cross.
Relationships: Stephen Strange/Wong
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23
Collections: MCU Space Ships 2019





	Confide Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scioscribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scioscribe/gifts).



“ _Required_ ritual,” Strange repeated, this time with even more disbelief. “Which _requires_ that we sleep together?” He sounded disdainful, as he often did. Wong was unimpressed, as he often was. Men who peered deep into hidden corners of the multiverse were rarely impressed by anything.

“Are you unwilling?” There were lines that didn’t matter, not in the great scale of things. There were lines not to cross.  


“No,” said Strange. He huffed, the arrogant lead of a drama Wong would never admit to watching. “Magic doesn’t care much about consent.” It was something else that weighed on him, though. Not unwilling, but reluctant and restrained.  


Wong had no interest in guessing games, whims, picking at the lock of the open-closed Strange. Two things mattered: he was there. They could do it. Knew each other, enough for the ritual to accept them. Wong’s mug clonked against the hardwood table, not spilling any tea. And still. “I’ll find someone else.”  


Strange bit into his apple with a crunch. Chewed, swallowed. “Should I be jealous?”  


Wong directed an annoyed look towards him, _don’t be stupid_. For someone wrapped up in himself, his own issues, stubbornness and ego, Strange had a habit of collecting pieces of information. About the world, people. Storing them somewhere in his brain, his memory, that seemingly endless space. He had internalised Wong’s doubts, taken them to heart in a moment, and responded, getting up from his armchair into an almost defensive stance.

“When haven’t I been up to the task?” Strange hesitated for a second. “Right. Going to sleep. Alone.”  


Wong turned to the Cloak of Levitation. It shrugged awkwardly.

Maybe Wong wasn’t an ideal partner. Maybe some of what was asked of them _was_ unfair. Strange had a choice, accepting it or not. He had displayed his usual, difficult self. Wong’s own matter-of-fact nature wished he would show a little practicality. Pick sense over pride.

Be a little less - Strange.

**  


Wong put down the manuscript, acting commander and battle plan. “We’ll perform the ritual, according to the instructions. It requires an existing connection, without specifying the depth.”

It didn’t have to be significant, he reminded himself. Any personal motive, constrained by convenient excuses and world-saving schemes, Wong would never speak of. There were an equal amount of reasons not to. What Strange didn’t know, more than he pretended, wouldn’t hurt him. Wong, if anyone, had a good game face.  


Strange was studying the writing with a slight frown. “Not really a casual person.”  


Everything about Strange was casual. From the way he’d entered Kamar-taj to the way he’d picked up an Infinity Stone. “Really.”

The Cloak of Levitation had tactfully disappeared. Strange himself clearly had something to say, but kept quiet, a guarded look on his face. What could Strange possibly be insecure about? He was fit. Whether he had those conventionally heroic looks or not, Strange was still conventionally _something_. Far more so than Wong.

“What about, uh, experience? The bigger, the better. Or Madonna, sophomore album.”  


Of course, Wong thought sourly. Whatever secret past Strange clumsily hinted at didn’t matter. Wong could handle him. They wouldn’t compare numbers. “You’ll do,” he replied gruffly. “Nothing you haven’t done before.”  


With enormous effort, unnatural stress, Strange echoed, “Haven’t done before.”  


“With a man,” Wong eventually confirmed. His occasional flirtatiousness hadn’t translated into action, then. Preferences were natural, however. If this would be a problem, Wong needed to know.

“That either,” Strange muttered. “Actually.”  


Not impossible, few things were. Men and women, old and young, in all societies hadn’t. For all sorts of reasons. But Strange, he never held back. Even Wong had his past affairs, brief and unsentimental. It seemed entirely, unquestionably impossible.

“Yeah,” said Strange, in a joyless tone. “I get it.” Before Wong had time to react, he was gone.

**

When Wong appeared, Strange didn’t meet his eyes. He was dressed, though not wearing his boots, which were on the floor, by the bed. “If you laugh at me, I’m not sleeping with you. Even for the greater good.”

“For once,” Wong said, with all the patience he could. “I’m not laughing at you.” He waited. “Yet.”

Self-conscious, somehow satisfied, Strange smiled. “So, cosmically significant sex?”


End file.
